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Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards answer questions on Thursday with the Sprint Cup in the background. Photo by NASCAR

After being positively civil to each other in Phoenix last weekend, NASCAR Sprint Cup championship rivals Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart laid into each other on Thursday afternoon at a NASCAR media event in Miami Beach, Fla.

In this case, “laid into each other” means that they were slightly testier now that the championship-deciding Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway was only three days away.

Stewart got it started by saying this about Edwards: “I respect Carl as a driver but this isn't about friendships,” he said of the man who takes a three-point lead into the race. “This is war; this is a battle; this is for a national championship. It's no-holds barred this weekend. I didn't come this far to be one step away from it and let it slip away. We're going to go for it.”

A reporter asked Stewart whether he'd wreck Edwards on the last lap to win the Cup. “I'd wreck my mom to win a championship,” he said, stone-faced. Then, grinning, he added, “And I'd wreck your mom to win a championship.”

Stewart was on a roll now, the room clearly his. Edwards sat beside him, taking it all in, occasionally rolling his eyes in mock exasperation, a slight smile across his face. Finally, he found his footing.

“He's got the talking part all figured out,” Edwards said to the audience. Then, to Stewart: “Problem is, you haven't led the points yet this year, have you?”

Stewart never missed a beat. “Yeah, you can come visit my trophy in the room at Vegas when you come out there,” he said smiling. “They say there are talkers and doers, and I've done this twice.”

“That's the funny thing,” Edwards answered. “I've listened to you talk a lot today. You've talked a lot about your past successes, and that's very respectable. And truly, all joking aside, that will make it more fun if I'm able to beat you. It will make me more proud.

“But this is going to be a good competition. Don't think for a second that either one of us is going to let anything slide. We're going to go out here, we're going to race hard, and we're going for this championship. I don't think you could find two harder racers than us up here. We both know that about each other.”

Stewart has said repeatedly that he has nothing to lose. But he says that as the points leader, it's up to Edwards not to lose the lead in the last race. He also says that being a two-time champion gives him a little edge on Edwards, who's never been this close before.

“I'm not really buying that,” Edwards said. “I mean, he does have two trophies at home and that's a huge accomplishment. If he's asking me to believe he doesn't go to bed thinking, ‘Man, I want to win this thing as bad as anyone' . . . I don't believe that. I think it would be a bigger accomplishment for me because I don't have a Sprint Cup championship.

“But we're both competitors, we have that same desire to win, that same amount of pressure that comes with that; pressure just to go out and perform. The bad thing for both of us and the good thing for both of us at the same time is we both seem to be able to go perform under that pressure. I truly believe it could come down to whomever wins this race, [or finishes ahead of the other] is going to win this championship.”